Chapter 7-12: Volume 7 - Chapter 12 – To the Ancient Ruins
07-12 To the Ancient Ruins
The day Jin’s group would head to Keine Village, the weather had been clear since morning .
As planned, they departed towards Keine Village with Jin’s carriage . The lineup was Jin, Reinhardt, Elsa, and the butler Claude .
Reiko sat in the coachman’s seat .
Just like it had been said, the road was rather poor . It was of course uneven, there were abrupt slopes, places where it got narrower and large rocks were strewn about .
In spite of such a bad road, Jin’s carriage kept going and they arrived in Keine Village before noon .
“We’re early, eh? Just as expected from Jin’s carriage!”
Reinhardt commended the carriage again .
“Alright, now where could the so-called ancient ruins be?”
After parking the carriage in a suitable open space Jin observed the surroundings . This Keine Village had the atmosphere of a deserted mountain village . It was much more declined compared to Kaina Village .
“Are there really something like ruins here?”
If there was such cultural heritage-like thing here wouldn’t it be better for this place to be a little more populous, Jin thought .
“Hey you, you came here to see the ruins, right?”
Jin turned to face the voice, and there stood an old person with a crooked back leaning on a cane . They seemed to be from this village .
“Uh, yeah . The ruins of…Keuwan, was it? Certainly we thought we’d want to have a look . ”
Jin explained their reason for coming here and,
“Oh-hoh, I thought so . The ruins, eh . Ya got some strange tastes . ”
The elder said with a slight accent and laughed,
“In that case, over here . I got spare time anyways, so I guess I’ll be yer guide . ”
They then began to walk towards the mountain .
Jin’s group exchanged glances .
“What do you want to do?”
“Well, how about we try going along?”
“Mm . I think that’s fine . ”
“There doesn’t seem to be any danger . I couldn’t feel any bloodlust or ill will from that person . ”
Apparently the butler Claude was a top-class swordsman in the past, and he judged the elder to not be a danger .
“Alright, in that case shall we go? Oh yeah, Jin, will the carriage be fine?”
Reinhardt asked worriedly, but Jin just smiled and siad it’ll be fine .
“I locked it, so . ”
Far from just a lock, secretly the SP were standing guard so Jin could leave behind the carriage without a worry, but Jin couldn’t say that .
“Oi, what’s wrong?”
The elder at the end of the road turned around and yelled . Jin quickly took out the luggage and,
“Okay, let’s go . ”
He began to walk . Reinhardt and the others also started walking . Elsa noticed that Jin curiously had luggage this time so,
“Jin-kun, that, what is it?”
She was interested and asked . Jin replied with a smile .
“This? Various necessities . ”
He said and began to explain .
“Light, water, food, and rope are packed in there . ”
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After that clarification, Claude raised his voice in approval,
“Oh my, Jin-sama has thoroughly prepared, haven’t you . Unlike yesterday’s sightseeing in the mines, ruins receive practically no maintenance, you see . Illumination and water are necessary for sure . ”
He said and pointed at his own luggage . Apparently Claude also made his own preparations .
This time for the first time in a while, Reiko was walking by Jin with ‘Peach Blossom’ in hand, as if to prevent being separated .
“You guys, you brought a lot of stuff but there’s no need for something like that . ”
The elder who went in front of them absent-mindedly said .
“Eh?”
“The ruins aren’t that large, you see . We’ll just take a quick peek inside, and it’ll be over after that . ”
“Is that right?”
Jin asked and the elder nodded .
“Yesh . If it were a little more noteworthy there would be a lot more people, see . ”
Apparently it would be quite a let-down . But, as they had already troubled themselves they kept carrying the luggage they had .
After ten minutes of walking, they arrived at the face of a huge cliff .
“A cliff…?”
“It seems to be at least a hundred meters tall . ”
“The entrance is over there, check it out . ”
The elder pointed at the nearby vertical cliff that was all granite, and at its base was the entrance to the ancient ruins .
“There’s no dangers or anything . Sometimes during hot summers we locals go in to cool off . ”
The elder’s explanation somewhat dampened their interest, but as the group had come for expressly this, they moved towards the entrance .
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“It seems to be somewhat disappointing . ”
Reinhardt said but,
“Even so this is my first time in a place like this . Maybe it’ll be unexpectedly interesting once we enter . ”
Elsa said . Jin kept walking in silence . Then, Reiko suddenly stopped and grasped Jin’s hand .
“Father, there is someone in the ruins . ”
Just like she said, from the entrance of the ruins a single person came out .
“Oh, how curious . Visitors, eh?”
“Oh, teacher, investigating the ruins today too I see . ”
This person seemed to be an acquaintance of the elder as they called him teacher . He too was old enough to be called an elder . No hair was found on top of his head, and instead on his chin was a magnificent white beard .
But his back was upright, and from his grey eyes one got an impression of overflowing vitality . He was wearing a white robe-like coat, indeed giving him the atmosphere of a researcher .
“Mh-hm, if I don’t come here once a day I can’t calm down . ”
He said, turned to Jin’s group and,
“Young people having an interest in ancient ruins like this makes me the happiest I can be as a researcher . I am Rucall, the town archeologist . ”
“I’m Jin . This is Reiko . ”
“I’m Reinhardt . And this is Elsa . ”
“My name is Claude and I am their butler . ”
As the man named Rucall introduced himself, so did Jin’s group introduce themselves and greet him .
“I’ve investigated these ruins for ten years now, but there’s still a very much left that I do not understand . Even so, would you like me to be your guide for a bit?”
Rucall offered . They were honestly thankful to have a person who’s done research on the ruins as a guide rather than just look around aimlessly .
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“That’s right, in that case if you would, please . ”
Reinhardt acted upon the group’s interests and said .
“Alright, then come this way . ”
Rucall led the group to the entrance of the ruins he had just himself left .
The ruins’ entrance was a crack in the cliff’s granite, giving a really rather weathered and crumbling sensation, but after stepping inside that impression was blown away .
“Wha…What is this?”
It was a wide room with many chairs, benches, and beds . Scattered around were piles of trash .
“Hahaha, you must be surprised . This was originally a wide empty room, but as this place is cool in the summers and warm in the winters, the locals started using this place for summering and wintering . And because of that the condition is like this . ”
Rucall explained . Likely for that reason magic lamps were set up here and there, and although it wasn’t as bright as during the day, it was still plenty bright .
“Oh, so that’s how it was . ”
“It was so sudden, so I got surprised . ”
After Rucall’s explanation Reinhardt and Elsa laughed and said, while only Jin had a frown on his face .
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